A quick review of how the Mets’ pitchers fared over the past week.
As everyone reading this is likely well aware, the Mets won nine straight games this week to catapult themselves right back into the NL Wild Card race. That winning streak came to an end yesterday on a day when Phil Maton didn’t have his best day, but the pitching can’t be perfect every day and yesterday’s loss can be laid at the feet of a lackluster offensive performance as much as anything else. The bullpen, which put up a 0.65 ERA during the nine-game winning streak, has really turned things around of late which has been a big part of the Mets’ success during the month of September thus far. But the starting pitching has been solid as well. And the starters have gone deep into games, taking strain off the bullpen, which certainly helps.
Luis Severino is the only member of the rotation to pitch twice this week and had two good starts. He began his week by earning his tenth win of the season in the series opener against the Red Sox, yielding just one run over seven innings of work. He struck out five and walked two in that outing. He was sharp yesterday as well, throwing the ball as hard as he has all year, but unfortunately his offense did give him enough run support for him to come away with the victory this time. Severino got through six scoreless yesterday before giving up the tying run on a bloop, a wild pitch, and a single. But one run through 6 2⁄3 innings is certainly a fine performance. Severino struck out eight and walked two yesterday.
Reed Garrett came in the game yesterday with two outs in the seventh and the go-ahead run on base and struck out Will Benson to avoid further damage. Garrett came back out for the eighth inning and struck out two more batters as part of a 1-2-3 frame. That capped off a fantastic week for Garrett, who is looking much more like the breakout pitcher he was earlier in the season. He also came into a tie game on Friday and kept the score tied, once again striking out three batters over 1 1⁄3 innings and setting the stage for the Mets’ thrilling walk-off victory in that contest. Garrett also earned his 13th hold of the season in Tuesday’s victory, coming into a tough spot in the eighth inning and allowing a sac fly to score an inherited runner, but then inducing a key inning-ending double play with the lead still in tact.
It was José Buttó’s mess that Garrett had to clean up in the eighth on Tuesday and the run that scored on the sac fly, which brought the Red Sox within one, was charged to him. It was Buttó’s second inning of work after a clean seventh and two consecutive walks to lead off the eighth came back to bite him, but luckily the Mets did not blow the lead. Buttó’s other performance this week was a much better one; he pitched the top of the tenth inning in Friday’s extra-inning victory and pitched a 1-2-3 inning, not allowing the free runner to scoring. That clutch performance earned him his seventh win of the season when Mark Vientos walked it off in the bottom of the inning.
Edwin Díaz also played a big role in Friday’s victory, striking out the side in the ninth inning to keep the game tied. Díaz also worked around a hit to pitch a scoreless ninth inning in a non-save situation on Saturday to lock down the Mets’ ninth straight win. In fact, despite all of the winning the Mets did this week, Díaz did not earn any saves even though he had a clean sheet this week. Díaz walked a batter and struck out two in a scoreless ninth inning in the series finale against the Red Sox on Wednesday.
Sean Manaea started Friday’s exciting extra-inning win and pitched better than his final line indicates. He only gave up three hits, but the problem is two of those hits were game-tying two-run homers. He struck out nine and walked two over his 6 2⁄3 innings of work and was otherwise sharp, but the pitch to TJ Friedl especially was likely one he’d like to have back. Nevertheless, it was a performance that turned out to be good enough for the Mets to pull out the victory.
Other than Buttó’s dicey eighth inning on Tuesday, the Mets didn’t really have any bad pitching performances until Phil Maton’s ninth inning yesterday. Maton has been so solid since the Mets acquired him, but had a rare off day yesterday. He hit Spencer Steer with a pitch to lead off the inning, gave up a single to Ty France, retired the next batter he faced, but then gave up a back-breaking go-ahead RBI double to Santiago Espinal that ended up being the difference in the game. Maton avoids a poor grade for the week though because his other two appearances this week were successful ones. In the series opener against the Red Sox on Monday, Maton pitched a 1-2-3 ninth with two strikeouts to earn his third save of the season. Maton also recorded the final out of the eighth inning in Wednesday’s series finale against Boston, but it was a bit dicey, as he gave up two singles protecting what was at the time a one-run lead, but he ultimately got out of the inning unscathed and then the Mets built up some key insurance in the bottom of the inning to give themselves some breathing room.
The Mets got out to an early 4-0 lead on Wednesday thanks to Jesse Winker’s grand slam, but Tylor Megill took the wind out of the Mets’ sails by giving most of that lead back in the third. He did manage to hold the lead, but he only lasted four innings, striking out three batters and walking one. With Paul Blackburn slated to return to the rotation this week, it is likely Megill will go back down to Triple-A.
When rosters expanded this week, lefty Alex Young was recalled from Triple-A and he came in the game on Wednesday and pitched a scoreless fifth inning in relief of Megill. Young also recorded the final out of the ninth inning yesterday after Maton gave up two runs.
Danny Young earned the win in Wednesday’s game for contributing 1 1⁄3 scoreless innings of relief complete with a strikeout. Young also worked around a walk to pitch a scoreless eighth inning in Monday’s victory, serving as the bridge between Severino and Maton. That performance, in which he struck out two batters, earned him his fifth hold of the season. Young also pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning in Saturday’s victory with two strikeouts, capping off another week in the green for him.
José Quintana had an excellent outing on Saturday, twirling 6 2⁄3 scoreless innings in the Mets’ ninth straight victory. He scattered five hits, struck out six, and walked two. He earned his eighth win of the season, but more importantly, it was the 100th win of his career, making him the first Colombian-born pitcher to accomplish that feat. Adam Ottavino came into the game with two outs in the seventh and a runner on base and struck out the only batter he faced to end the inning and keep Quintana’s shutout performance in tact. That was Ottavino’s only appearance this week.
Huascar Brazobán and Ryne Stanek also each only appeared in one game this week. Brazobán’s appearance came on Wednesday and he worked in and out of a jam in the sixth thanks to a key double play to protect a one-run lead and earn his fifth hold of the season. He came back out for the seventh and gave up a single and then struck out a batter for the first out before yielding to Danny Young, who induced another key double play grounder to escape that inning. Stanek pitched the ninth inning on Tuesday after the Mets put up four runs in the eighth to take a more commanding lead. Stanek pitched a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts to seal the victory.
David Peterson was the starter on Tuesday and had yet another strong outing. He struck out a career high eleven batters en route to his ninth win of the season. He walked only one batter. He gave up one run on six hits through six innings of work, lowering his season ERA to 2.75.